Your 5-Year-Draw All Max/3
Moving on to the members. This page applies to players wishing to improve their own incredible teams that just lack a certain key member to effective. There are a lot of teams that require the full support of a key member to fully function. While the value of leaders can change as the metagame develops, certain key members prove to be effective for years to come. All of the listed monsters here are from the regular Diamond Seal since the ones in Special Draws (Cornflower, Ghroth) are already mentioned in Page Two. Table of Contents /TOC}} Top Member Picks The following members listed are recommended because they have widespread use on multiple teams, and could be expected to shine in future teams as well. Gemini - Pollux If you own many teams that need Pollux to be effective, such as Ophiuchus, Lü Bu, Tsukuyomi-Anubis, etc., then Pollux is the meta-defining monster that you do not want to miss. Though, being a regular diamond seal member, it is possible that the player will eventually get him sooner or later unless he/she is not interested in chasing Black Diamonds. Considering most of the regular draw monsters are garbage in the metagame today, choosing Pollux seems plausible. There is an additional benefit that that player will not have to suffer the "Slime Hell" when skill-leveling Pollux to immediately make use of him. *If you decide to get Pollux - be careful! There are 15 Dark Gods available for drawing, so if you do not own at least 10 of the cards below, there is a chance that Pollux will not show up! These are the Dark Gods to keep in mind that are not Pollux: ** Medea Witches are important. The teams that Medea functions well are Fire teams (Chessia and Nobunaga being primary examples), and certain multi-attribute teams (such as Guan Yu). It is a vital member of many types of teams, perhaps even more widespread than Pollux. For a fire team to take the damage output to the next level, Medea is mandatory. *If you decide to get Medea - Keep in mind that there are 8 Fire Humans available for drawing, so if you do not own at least 3 of the cards below, there is a chance that Medea will not show up! **Fire Humans (except Medea): Circe Another witch, perhaps with the smallest drawback even though there are two - team shielding effects are nullified while 4 combos are needed to deal damage. It is essential for Earth teams such as Izanagi, Hideyoshi, and perhaps Uncle Tuu, and she is welcome in certain multi-attribute teams. *If you decide to get Circe - Keep in mind that there are 8 Earth Humans available for drawing, so if you do not own at least 3 of the cards below, there is a chance that Circe will not show up! **Earth Humans (except Circe): Novalis This would have been a very specific option if not for the dominance of Azathoth dragon teams. If you own Azathoth but cannot get Novalis no matter what, then picking Novalis can be a sensible choice. Do keep in mind that Novalis has no use outside of Dragon teams. Before picking Novalis, the player should have considered other leader choices, since players will miss out the opportunity to try other leaders - unless the desire to have a complete dragon team is urgent. *If you decide to get Novalis - It is a guaranteed pick. *Dark Dragons: Other Member Picks Cassandra Cassandra's buff has a negative effect on locking team recovery to zero, which can be very inconvenient. Still, for players fortunate enough to have a supreme Water leader Atlantis ( ), a black diamond card, getting Cassandra can be very valuable. Cassandra is a drawback-free card in Atlantis teams because Atlantis has an alternate way of recovering HP. Outside of Atlantis team, Cassandra is not as essential in most water teams such as Su Huan Jen, Cornflower, because there is a greater drawback once Cassandra is activated. The reason I put Cassandra here is that if the player doesn't have Atlantis, there is almost no reason to justify choosing her. If you have Cassandra, then Wen Zhong ( ) can be an excellent member of Atlantis team, though this may be unnecessary. *'If you decide to get Cassandra:' There are 10 Water Humans available for drawing. If you have less than 5 the cards below owned, I do not recommend going for Cassandra in case you get unlucky. **Water Humans (except Cassandra): Matryoshka For players with troubles dealing with Overheal shields with NON-ELF teams, Matryoshka can be very useful. It is a very good member of Izanagi and Ophiuchus, a damage-enhancer of Diablo, and even helps Rose and Sakura at dealing with extreme Overheal bosses. It is not that ground-breaking of a choice, considering that it does not improve team damage, but on the other hand, there are very few cards that can improve team recovery. This is a very committing decision, as the teams it can benefit are fairly few. *If you decide to get Matryoshka - It is a guaranteed pick. **Earth Elves: Pupuro Originally I am not even considering her but it was suggested by one of my guildmates. Interestingly, Elf teams have very limited ways of making a self-multiplied attack, and so they suffer against high-defense enemies, even though they are rare. For an elf-lover, this card can be very helpful, as well as making Cornflower Water-Elf setup viable as a team, since you do not want to rely on Jinnie to break defense all the time. *If you decide to get Pupuro - It is NOT a guaranteed pick if you do not have any Water Elves, but fairly close because it is unlikely for a player to make this choice without having a good number of Elves in the bag. For Cornflower, see Page Two. **Water Elves (except Pupuro): Libra - Luna If the player has an Ophiuchus team and already owns Pollux, the player can choose to improve Ophiuchus team even further with Luna. Luna also works perfectly with PR Lucifer, a very dominating force in Light teams centered around Gods. The ability to clone the power of attacks from Gemini or Lucifer for two rounds is what makes Luna so fearsome. It may not be strictly a necessary member, but she is still a formidable one. As a side note, for players with Dual PR Lucifer and have strong Light leaders without race restrictions, most prominent being Black Diamond card Maya ( ), the player can also consider Libra. *If you decide to get Wukong: There are 14 Light Gods available. If you do not have enough Light Gods, don't choose Luna. **Light Gods (except Luna): Ursula As a partner of Novalis for 4 and a half years, she copies the concentrated attacks of Novalis to the rest of the dragons for two rounds and is the basis of the unbroken Dragon Formula. If you own Azathoth and already has Novalis to work with, the player can choose Ursula to complete the recipe. While there might be some affairs with the introduction of Masamune ( , Joint Operation Card), it is still sufficient to say that the value of multi-round burst is still irreplaceable. *If you decide to get Ursula - It is a guaranteed pick. *Water Dragons: Aloha This is a great member for dealing with many tricky shields by converting the full board into 6 runestones of each elemental attribute, and as such, it has plenty of use in a lot of teams, even in certain monotype teams that are not Water. It is a valuable member of a beast team while also capable of being a leader itself. Beast teams, while not as metagame-defining as before, is still a solid choice, although assembling a beast team fully capable of tackling Ultimate stages would take a lot of resources training key members. *If you decide to get Aloha - It is a guaranteed pick. Yunyang This is a core member of a beast team as they do not rely on heart runestones to recover. Combined with Joint Operation Card Furi ( , it makes the team powerful. However, the usage of certain beasts are fairly limited outside of beast-related teams, and this card is one of them. *If you decide to get Yunyang - It is a guaranteed pick.